Hollyoaks’ first ever star to be ki.lled off in gruesome dea.th has very different career now
Shebah Ronay played Natasha Andersen in Hollyoaks but was killed off in a shocking storyline - and she has now completely turned her back on acting to focus on a very different career
Former Hollyoaks starlet Shebah Ronay, who played the iconic Natasha Andersen, has taken a dramatic career turn nearly 30 years after her debut on the popular soap.
Natasha was the original Hollyoaks bombshell – glamorous, stunning and fiery. She made history as the first regular character to be killed off, meeting a tragic end due to a drug overdose in March 1996 when her drink was spiked with ecstasy at a house party.
In its inaugural year, Hollyoaks faced criticism for lacking any issue-led storylines and being too soft. This led producers to create a hard-hitting storyline involving Natasha, culminating in her untimely death due to drug use.
The storyline made headlines and signalled a shift for the soap towards more serious narratives, reports the Mirror. Reflecting on Natasha’s exit, show creator Phil Redmond said: “Natasha’s death depicts the stark reality of unnecessary death coming very close to one group of friendly and fun-loving people for the first time in their lives and how this is bound to change their outlook in many ways”.
While Shebah’s departure as Natasha from Hollyoaks gave the show’s creators the confidence to tackle more challenging storylines, she didn’t remain in the acting industry for long. Post-Hollyoaks, she appeared in the short film The Things We Do For Love before shifting her focus to modelling, presenting, and journalism.
Shebah spent a number of years as a film columnist for News of the World before taking up the role of stylist editor at Wedding Day magazine. She is married to artist Jonathan Yeo and they have two children.
Additionally, she is the granddaughter of Hungarian-born food critic Egon Ronay and the daughter of fashion designer and former actress Edina Ronay.
